body modification

I had a dermal anchor piercing (also called a microdermal implant) done last year and it healed pretty well without much care on my part. However, the skin around it started getting inflamed and I knew that my body was going to reject the piercing.

The microdermal implant started growing out when my niece pulled at it during Chinese New Year and it has caught several times against my clothing ever since. I got really tired of it and decided to pull it out just now.

I’ve heard a lot of people say that it’s a painful process that must be done in a proper setting but I just grabbed the loose part and pulled it out with my fingers. It didn’t hurt at all. I think it was about to fall out by itself sooner or later anyway. *shrugs

Microdermals are foreign objects and your body will reject it given time so I figured I might as well expedite the process. There’s minimal bleeding and at least I won’t have to feel uncomfortable with it snagging against my clothes anymore.

Microdermal implants uses surgical grade titanium to anchor an interchangeable stud under your skin. It’s done by creating a “pocket” under your skin and it’s a lot easier to heal than the previous surface bar piercing that I have. I shall do a quick n00b drawing to show how it works.

Basically, it needs to be anchored towards something, in this case, my ribcage. There is a long titanium anchor that goes up and a shorter one that goes down. The first time you do it, it’s best to have a flat stud so it won’t rub too much against your clothes.

It’s a lot easier to get piercings in high school and university coz you don’t have to give considerations about work. However, now that I’m working, piercings (except for the usual orthodox ones) have to be concealable under office attire.

Fresh says it looks like someone just hammered a nail in my heart but it’s actually straight in the middle of my body. Frankie of Zoo Body Piercing measured it so it would be right in the center of my body.

The procedure is fairly simple – a small gauge needle (which is a large needle – the higher the gauge, the thinner it is) is used to make 4 incisions under your skin. The top part of the anchor is pushed in followed by the bottom part.

I didn’t find it painful but then again your mileage may vary since everyone has different pain thresholds. I actually like pain so it was quite enjoyable for me.

Microdermal implants takes only 3 months to heal and costs RM 250. You have to really take care of it during the first few days though. However, my approach towards body modification is always LITHA (Leave It The Hell Alone) and it usually works for me.

Thanks to bff Lainey for the recommendation! Zoo Body Piercing also does branding – my next project! =D

I did a dual nipple piercing last year. It’s the only piercing I have left since I swallowed my tongue piercing for the umpteenth time (yes, again) and my wrist piercings got infected so I had to take it off.

I didn’t manage to write about the nipple piercings before since the videos and photos were back in Sibu. I managed to grab the external HDD when I went back home a couple of months ago, so all the assets are with me now! =D

I already had something in mind when I went in – I want both nipples to be pierced, but with a twist (no pun intended). I wanted one to be horizontal and one vertical.

I was also adamant about using spiked bars instead of rings, much to the consternation of my attire. I wager the piercings have poked more holes in my clothes than I care to count. :(

This piercing is hands down the most uncomfortable piercing I’ve ever done. I’ve had most of my face and various bodily parts pierced with no more than a shrug and a smile. However, my nipples are really sensitive and this piercing was…well, QUITE UNPLEASENT.

I had to use both my hands to hold out my shirt so it doesn’t come into contact with the newly pierced nipples when I walked out of the place. It looked like I was attempting to create two imaginary man boobs by tenting up my shirt. :S

I did the piercings in Sungei Wang, so I got a lot of weird looks…but it sure beats the hell out of constantly wincing from the geli-ness produced from friction between my clothes and the fresh nipple piercings. Heh!

I had a surface bar piercing procedure done about a month ago on my left wrist. I had originally intended to go in for a tattoo on my left ankle – a rotting, dead corpse hand with yellowing fingers grasping my leg and pulling me down with blood dripping from the fingernail rake marks, all in full color. It’s going to be a masterpiece!

Unfortunately, it would take about four hours to ink and an hour to draw so I decided to go for an unconventional piercing instead. My policy regarding piercings is simple – it has to be concealed (or at least concealable) due to my line of work. I have pierced most of my face since I was 15 and I only have my tongue and nipple piercings left.

I came to this tattoo place to get my nipples pierced about three months ago and asked about flesh stapling and other hardcore or extreme piercings that they do. They couldn’t do it back then but I noticed they have some paraphernalia for it now. However, they still couldn’t do proper flesh stapling so I went for the next best thing – three surface piercings down my left wrist. The piercing guy told me I’m the first one to do this, so I’m the guinea pig.

I like the sound of that. ;)

Thus, I signed the indemnity form and proceeded with the surface piercing.

I originally planned for three similar length and gauge surface piercings but the piercer told me it would look disproportionate due to the widening of the arm, so he suggested 22 gauge, 24 gauge and 26 gauge bars in ascending order so it’ll look straight. It turned out to be an excellent suggestion.

Surface bar piercing is the exact “opposite” of flesh stapling. Flesh stapling allows the “bar” to be visible, but the “ends” to be invisible while surface bar piercings has the “ends” visible while the “bar” goes under the skin.

The skin is clamped together at the wrist and then pierced through with a large needle before the surface bar is inserted and the end screwed in. The entire bar goes under your skin so you can feel it beneath your skin, somewhat akin to a sub dermal implant.

This is the process flow of the surface bar piercing procedure:

The site of the piercing (in this case my left wrist) is marked with a pen with horizontal and vertical lines as a guide for the three bars going in.

The skin around the wrist is clamped together – not a very easy task for the first one since it’s located quite high up on the arm. The clamp marks alone took over a week to heal!

A very thick needle is poked through the skin from A to B so it goes under the skin between the two points.

It is temporarily stopped with a cork for safety purposes.

The surface bar is then inserted all the way in…

…before the clamp is released, putting the entire bar under the skin and leaving the ends up. The side of the surface bar is screwed in with a ball.

I did all three in a row which amazed the staff, as did my tolerance for pain. I don’t mean to brag, it’s none of that macho shit, but I honestly don’t feel much pain at all. It hurt a little after a couple of days though, especially when it snags on clothes and hair. I look a little like a porcupine at the wrist, but I kinda like how it looks now.

It’s supposed to take six (!!!) months to completely heal but I think mine is pretty much healed now. It doesn’t hurt anymore, even when slightly snagged. It’s different and I get a lot of double takes and people commenting about it (one guy even wanted to take a photo of it) when I go out.

It’s technically a transdermal implant since part of it is inside the skin and part of it is outside and is considered a little on the extreme side, so that’s something you might want to consider if you’re doing this.

…a video of the third and final wrist piercing going in.

This is what it looks like when it’s done.

It looks horribly painful especially for virgins to the world of self-mutilation, er…I mean body modification but it’s not as painful as it looks. :)

This is me. Eating an apple at the Boulevard Hotel studio suite this morning. It sounds like a mundane (understatement of the year) post, which it is, but I’m trying to make it sound interesting. There really is a discrepancy in the picture above…